I’m still having a hard time staking claim to this team. This isn’t an expression of disapproval. Quite the contrary, I really like what the Clips have done this offseason to recover from Brand’s departure. But sizing up the team’s prospects – or even imagining what they’re going to look like on a given night -- is difficult. It’s sort of like poring over a blueprint for a new house: You can study the plans, try to visualize the space, but there’s no way you can begin to sense the feel, texture, or essence of the place. Not until it’s done and you move in.

The unknown precipitates a whole lot of questions. Another one the Clips face:

Is Al Thornton ready to be a primary offensive option?

If Baron Davis is the departure point of the Clips’ 08-09 offense, then Al Thornton will have to be the terminus. Clipper fans celebrated Thorton’s surge last year as a bona fide scorer. Some nights he was more efficient than others, but Al learned how to engineer production in the halfcourt. He got to the line and learned to take advantage of mismatches [particularly against slower big men who found themselves assigned to Al at the 4].

The question going into this season is whether Al can build on his progress as he transitions over to his natural position at small forward. Whereas last season he was able to freelance in isolation as the mystery guest in the Clippers’ offense, this season, faster, more instinctive small forwards will more diligently follow him off-the-ball. This season, Al might not be able to create the kind of separation between himself and his defender he managed last season.

Al’s a pretty big small forward, and Dunleavy will be tempted to post Al up, even though there are two bigger guys in the Clipper offense. It’s not a bad instinct, but it would be a much better strategy if Thornton can learn to pass out of a double-team – something he never really had to do last season.

Naturally, the Clips will probably try to work some opportunities in iso. Imagine a high screen from Camby; Thornton draws Camby’s man on the defensive switch – then goes to work. Again, we’ll see how effective Al can be dishing the ball to Camby off the roll for one of Marcus’ patented 15-footers [particularly since Camby will have Thornton’s man on him].

The nicest surprise in Thornton’s game toward the end of last season was his ability to drill shots from beyond the arc. Will Al be able to get the kind of open shots he got last season from the perimeter? That depends, in large part, on Chris Kaman and Baron Davis and their ability to draw double-teams away from Thornton. I suspect Dunleavy will position Kaman in the halfcourt on the right block, with Thorton on the strong side arc. That two-man game will be pivotal to the Clips’ – and Thornton’s – offensive success. Again, Thornton will have to be able to execute entry passes into the post and move without the ball. But that interplay between Al and the big guys will be a big factor in measuring Al’s value in the offense, beyond his isolation. It’s the difference in striving to be a complete, multi-faceted perimeter forward, or a prolific scorer with a limited skill set.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

Good news!

We have launched a new ClipperBlog.com site! You are currently on our old system & are viewing an archived page. We will continue to keep all 670 posts from our first 3 years on this archive site. Soon we will be closing the comments for each of these older posts.

Comments

the best part of this Clipper team is that we have scorers, we don't have anybody that you can leave open to double another player, so i think Al will be able to score and shine. He's no longer a secret weapon, but fortunately he has a great supporting cast.

i hear you in sensing "the feel" of this team...i like the team and the changes, it's hard to sort of believe in a team that you know will be drastically different 2 years from now with all the contracts, kinda strange, although being a life long Clipper fan i'm used to it.

Al is going to be posted up. You know it. I know it. He doesnt have the handle to play the wing, but he does have the ability to catch and score.

And no disrespect to Al. I think hes a wonderful player. He was a bright spot to an otherwise dismal season last year. But honestly, he will not be an All-Star. He could be a great 6th man, but he just doesnt have enough and has already hit his peak years this season.

He needs serious ball handling work to play 3. He just doesnt have it. That's not being mean, he can score in droves though, so leaving him open is not going to be an option for opposing teams.

But realistically, Al is no Elton. And if Elton is a second tier guy thats on the bubble as an All-Star, lets just call a spade a spade and be real about Al's prospects to be an All-Star. He has none. He might get MIP, or 6th Man if the Clippers put a winning season together, but honestly....I'm thinking they should not reject any offers for him if something compelling comes along. If they can get more by trading him, they should. He's a high level player, but hes not elite...yet. Big gap between where he is and being elite.

Stick Al at 4, start Ricky Davis at 3. You have the statistics working in your favor with them playing at those two positions. Putting Al as starting 3 means hes going to need on the job training and we simply cant afford to tank the beginning of the season to let Al adjust and figure out how to do an entry pass or to pass out of the double. Much better to rotate Camby and Kaman at 5 and have a stifling presence in the paint for 48 minutes with Al at 4 and Ricky on the wing to intimidate from both the perimeter and the paint.

t money you are not a clipper fan. i find your views to be repugnant. lets be realistic and lets be real and lets not be mean and lets be honest and lets call a spade a spade, you are an a-hole and should be banned from all clipper games for at least 10 years.

Yes, we really have no idea what we're getting this year - it's kind of like we got the team from an on-line catalog and hope it fits when we get it home. Looks good - what happens when we take it out of the box? But I submit the 2 biggest factors in making the Clippers a contender again this year or another bust is - chemistry and Kamen. He has all the help he needs and the maturity to become a bona fide All-Star. If both gel, this will be a fun year. If not, get out the plans - we're rebuilding again next year.

Why is it that some of you can't spell Kaman's name correctly? It's not like his name is Chris Schortsianitis.

Anyway... Thornton will be fine. Most of his success came late last year when the Clippers had ZERO inside presence. He was forced to create in one-on-one situations while getting few easy baskets. This year the floor will be spread with many more scorers and a couple of players that can actually pass the ball while being threats to scroe themselves.

Add the fast break opportunities he will have stemming from the Block Party Kaman and Camby will provide... he should score 20 points a game if Dunleavy chooses to feature him.

On a side note, I've never hid the fact that i wasnt a huge Maggette fan... But I think a player like Maggs would score 30 points a game if he had Baron Davis running the point on his team...

I think that if Dunleavy keeps his promise and makes this team a running team, Al could benefit alot from it. Al is an amazing athlete and he proved that he could score on the fast break. But I don't think Al will be perfect this year. This is only his second year in the NBA and he still is adjusting to the NBA and he will have a few off games, not as many as he did last year but he will have a few. With that said I think that this could be the perfect situation for Al, hopefully I am right because the clips season depends largely on him.

Al will be just fine as a #2 or #3 option. I still like Baron being the initiator and either shooting or running the offense through Kaman. Camby is famous for picking up trash and producing. We all know Mobley is a nice guy and all, but he's really just filling in as our SG and hoping to put up 8 and 3.

I think Ricky Davis has been a punk "See his triple double", but he's a scoring machine. He'll do really well as a 6th or 7th man.

Oh yeah...the point. Al will be fine. However, he scored well last season because he was our only option. I think he'll his #'s will be similar, but his impact will be greater

There will probably be sets where Thornton slides to the PF to give either Kaman or Camby a breather. Petey Pablo, that lineup might come up depending on matchups and injuries, but I still prefer seeing Baron at point and have either Cat or Gordon sharing the backcourt.

Also, I think Thornton, with a year of experience under his belt, is ready to be a primary offensive option. Having point guards that can get him the ball should make things easier for him. Though he loses his quickness advantage against other PF's (he made Bosh in particular look silly, didn't he?)he gets to be more of a spot up shooter instead of having to post on bigs every night. When Baron is sitting, he can go into slasher mode. And like Kevin says, if his feel for the game improves, he may even run the pick and roll with Camby (that would be awesome). Al's got the tools and a better supporting cast than last year, so now it's on him to show us what he's capable of.

Pre-season is just around the corner.Can't wait to see the blueprints in action.

It's true, Al has to work offensively on his ball handling and having a consistent outside shot. Also on his off-ball skills. But who from any young player coming in doesn't? Kevin Durant as to work on all those too. He's not a great ball handler. Needs too be more efficient and definitely needs to work on his passing too. Defensively Al has to work on everything. If he's gonna be playing the 3, his on-ball defense has to improve a lot, and if he plays some 4 his weak side help has to improve too, but not as much. He can become a great player, he has a lot of tools physically, he's really athletic. I think he can become a great all around offensive player, except for having a great court vision, i think that's what he needs the most work in. And defensively he will have to work even harder all around. But he's definitely not going to be the no. 1 maybe no. 2 option but no. 3 is more likely. he's still developing, although i would like him to prove me wrong timewise, and hope he gets to those points sooner than hoped for.

KA, Thornton won't have to post to be effective. Baron Davis and Mobley are already capable of posting their defenders, and Kaman commands a double team in the post. You don't need 4 post players in your starting line-up.

Maggette never really posted anyone and sucked at 3 pointers, yet he still put up 20 points per game. Unlike Maggette, Thornton can also draw the double team with his scoring ability. If he learns to pass, he can be very productive for the team.

Unlike last year, we have additional 3 point shooters on the team along with som dribble penetration by BD. This will allow for better spacing to give Thornton more opportunities to score by shooting the 3, shooting pull up mid range shots, or taking his man to the rim.

I like AL but his handling is suspect and kind of a black hole when the ball gets to him. However, I would like to see him his big body against the 3s. He has range and athletic ability to create trouble in the offensive end.

"There is tremendous will to work. A big effort is being made, so that at the end we can achieve our goals. I don't want to make any promises, however, when you are at such a level, where skills do exist, everything can be done with hard work. One thing brings another".

I have been messing around with nba2k8, and the current nba roster. Camby and Kaman provide plenty of low post defense, and on the perimeter Baron Davis can get lots of steals, especially since he has two good shotblockers behind him. I actually feel they should start gordon or davis at sg, and bring cuttino off the bench. The clips have a lot more outside shooters now with baron, r davis, gordon, mobley, tim thomas, jason williams, thornton, and novak all capable of dropping in treys from the arc. Most of the post offense will come from kaman, thornton, or baron. With all those shooters on the team it should open up space for baron and jwill to penetrate and kick, and also for kaman and camby to operate in the low block. They should be able to run well with ricky davis, mobley, thornton, and gordon with baron pushing the fast break on defensive rebounds from camby or kaman.

I bet on the clips to win the championship at 50-1 odds. It is long odds, but I feel like they have put together a solid squad, and why not bet on them. If I actually win I will be ecstatic. Lately my favorite teams to watch have been the suns, hornets and celtics. But since I live in los angeles I go to clipper games. I love Baron, since we both went to ucla, and I am hopeful that the clips can become a regular in the playoffs.

OK are you Ricky Davis bashers. Do you know that RD has a higher career shooting average and 3% shooting percentage than, BD, Tim Thomas (TT), and Cat Mobley? Do you also know that his FT percentage is higher than BD and TT? We all know hat BD is a great player. But, do you also know that RD's block's per game and rebounds per game, career wise, are basically equal to BD?

Let's see what this guy can do on a good team before you rag on him any more. Let's have the trial before you issue a verdict.

09/21/08 20:38:43

Add Comment

This item is closed, it's not possible to add new comments to it or to vote on it